


Deep in the Hollow Wood

by TheSilverPhoenix



Series: USUK Week 2020 [3]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Cardverse, Day 3, F/F, Fantasy, Injury, Magic, Nyotalia, On the Run, USUK Week, implied character injury/death, political turmoil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:42:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25118575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSilverPhoenix/pseuds/TheSilverPhoenix
Summary: Amelia Jones is the destined heir to the throne of Spades, set to rule after her father. That is, until the night everything went horribly wrong. Now, Amelia is injured, alone, and on the run from her own soldiers. It seems like all hope is lost. Luckily, the gods are watching over her.
Relationships: America/England (Hetalia)
Series: USUK Week 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1816204
Kudos: 17





	Deep in the Hollow Wood

All Amelia Jones could hear was the pound of the horse hooves behind her and the shouting orders of their riders. The wind tore at her hair and clothes and the metal of her own horse’s reins bit into her hands as she gripped at them like a lifeline. They were a lifeline. Without them, she would’ve felt nothing but the blind panic still threatening to overtake her as the riders behind her grew even closer to catching her.

_ Keep going _ , the metal reminded her,  _ keep going. Don’t let them catch up. _

Even though she could feel the blood on her shirt sticking to her. Was it her blood or someone else's? She didn’t know and she didn’t have the time to figure it out. She had to concentrate on the now before she could process the then. If she even started trying to figure out what had happened, she might lose herself to the darkness of the moonless night. Fitting that the events of the night would happen on the darkest night of the year.

The shouting behind her grew closer as her grip on the reins loosened.

Concentrate.

The soldiers behind her rode with lanterns to guide their ways, and to help them spot her, but she had nothing. The field in front of her seemed to go on forever. How long had she been riding? How much longer could her horse continue the chase?

Ahead of her, she could see the vague outline of a forest. The forest. It was the only place she could go where the soldiers wouldn’t follow. Superstition said the forest was haunted, that those who went in were doomed to wander in it forever, but Amelia had never been one for superstition.

As the tree line of the forest grew closer, Amelia urged her horse to go faster, a spark of hope fueling her determination to make it and escape. For her father and for her sister. She had to live, even if she didn’t want to.

Amelia and her horse bolted into the forest without hesitation and they found themselves surrounded with thick trees and foliage. But as soon as they disappeared through the tree line, the voices of the soldiers died off and the sound of their hooves faded. Amelia didn’t dare slow down until she was confident that they hadn’t followed. Only then did she allow her grip on the reins to weaken, only then did she allow herself to take a full, calming breath, only then did she feel the sharp pain across her back.

She bit her lip, trying not to curse aloud, as the pain ran through her. Instead, she urged her horse forward and prayed that some sort of salvation would come. She wouldn’t survive in the woods while she was wounded and alone, but she couldn’t exactly turn back. The presence of soldiers on the borders would be increased in an attempt to catch her should she try to leave the country and she had no doubt that her uncle would send soldiers into the woods themselves after he’d given them a stern talking to.

Another wave of pain shot through her when she shifted in her saddle and the humidity of the forest was beginning to make her sweat. She’d be dehydrated before long. If she didn’t die from infection or blood loss before that.

The outlook was grim and Amelia couldn’t find it in herself to search for a bright side. She was too tired, too injured, and too emotionally expended to even bother. Right now, her focus was survival, for however long she could.

So onward she rode, never forcing more than a trot from the horse that had saved her life. Well, most of the credit belonged to her sister. Guilt swirled in her gut at the thought. She’d left her behind. She’d left all of them behind. What had happened to them after she’d left? Had they killed all of them? Allowed them to remain? Surely her uncle would have spared her sister, right? She didn’t want to think of any alternative.

The longer they rode, the more the pain grew, until her back felt as if it had been lit on fire. Perhaps it had been. Her escape was so much of a blur that she couldn’t be sure of exactly what had happened. She’d killed a couple of people, but when had she been injured? Amelia had always assumed she’d feel when she was wounded in battle. Now it seemed that wasn’t the case. She didn’t even know how bad it was.

When she snapped out of her thoughts, she found herself leaning heavily against the neck of her horse, trying to keep herself on and fight through the pain. She needed to stop, to recuperate, but could she afford too? How long would it be before her uncle sent the soldiers barreling into the forest to chase after her? Was there even a point in running? People didn’t come out of this forest for a reason and she doubted there was going to be a little old lady in a cottage willing to help her, a now fugitive of the crown.

It didn’t take long for the pain in her back to dim her vision, until eventually that was all she saw. All she could do was not fall off of her horse as it continued on, allowing it to take her wherever it wanted too. It’s not like she knew where she was going either.

So on they went, Amelia’s horse guiding the way while its rider retained just enough consciousness to stay on its back, and it went on like that forever, or so it seemed to Amelia. She couldn’t tell how fast or slow time was passing, she just knew that it was because, at some point, the night above slowly shifted to dawn, and then day.

And when she was too tired to think her own thoughts, her head was filled with the echoing screams of her escape. How many people had died protecting her? How many people had died trying to kill her? How much more blood would be spilt? If she survived this, then it would surely be more. Amelia would not take this atrocity lying down.

Then, her horse came to a sudden stop. Perhaps it was too tired to carry on? Just like her. Gods, she was so tired.

But then she heard it, someone calling out to her and another talking to the horse beneath her. Soldiers? No, soldiers would’ve killed her on the spot or would’ve at least pulled her from her horse and arrested her. Gently, one of the people pried the reins from her hands, while the other took her by the arm to help her off.

Amelia tried to focus on them, tried to say something to them. She was hurt, tired, dehydrated, and all around not in good shape. But nothing came out. Instead, she lost herself to the darkness that had been calling to her since she’d entered the forest and the last thing she managed to see was the sparkling green of one of the strangers’ eyes.

-

The screams that haunted her in the forest manifested in her dreams. Funny, how she couldn’t remember exactly what had happened when she’d tried to remember, but it came back in vivid detail to haunt her in her most vulnerable state.

Her father had been murdered, killed in his sleep by Amelia’s uncle, for the throne and it had thrown the castle into chaos. Amelia had been woken up by her sister, Madeline, who helped her to escape her own midnight assassination and flee the castle. Alone.

_ Go _ , her sister had told her. Amelia couldn’t describe the look she’d seen in her sister’s eyes. Determination? Fear? Anger?  _ If you stay, you die, and it’s my job to protect you now. So go! _

And she had. Now she wanted her sister more than ever, if only to know that she was okay.

“-sure?” a muffled voice said, breaking through her dreams and finally bringing her back to a hazy consciousness. She tried to open her eyes to see the person talking, but her entire body felt fuzzy and unresponsive, as if it wasn’t her own to move.

“I’m positive,” another responded back. “It will take some time for the soldiers to enter the forest, more to find our temple. She will be safe here for now.”

“And what if they do find us?” the first snapped back. “Find her?”

“We will deal with that when it comes,” the second responded calmly. “Now, I will leave you to your patient, Alice.”

The first person - Alice - gave a heavy sigh, “Very well.”

After a couple seconds of silence, Amelia heard her speak again, “I hope you know what you’re doing, old man.”

Amelia felt a cool breeze wash over her, soothing the angry pain growing on her back and settling something deep inside of her. She’d felt the effects of magic before - her sister had performed it many times - but not like this, and certainly not from a stranger. As the spell washed away the pain, Amelia finally found the strength in her to crack open her eyes. Just in time to see a glimpse of Alice’s magic surrounding her.

It was a brilliant royal blue, swirling midair in glittering tendrils all around her. Where the tendrils touched her skin and seeped into her veins to soothe the ache, the magic turned a bright purple. Amelia could see it glowing beneath her skin.

She turned her attention to the source of the magic - Alice. The other woman’s back was turned to her, looking out of a window into the dense forest she’d been travelling through, but Amelia could see the long, blonde braided hair that went down the length of her back and the simple robes that clothed her.

Where was she? Who were these people?

As if hearing her thoughts, Alice cocked her head and turned towards her.

“You’re lucky to be alive,” the woman told her as she walked over to the bed Amelia was resting in. “More than I think you realize.”

The magic around her turned dim and faded fully the closer the other woman got and Amelia could see the brilliant green of her eyes. This was one of the people who’d found her.

“Who...what…”

Amelia’s questions were cut short by the dryness in her throat and she ended up coughing instead.

“Easy now,” she scolded. Alice reached for a glass on the bedside table and handed it to her. She drank the water immediately, savoring how it quenched her thirst. “It took me three days to get you this far and I don’t fancy doing it again.”

Amelia’s attention snapped to the stranger. “Three days?”

It wasn’t possible. Well, it was, clearly, but it definitely wasn’t a good thing. What had happened in that time? How much had she missed?

“Yes,” she said simply and took the empty glass from her hands, “we found you on your horse, halfway to hell. You got very lucky, Your Highness.”

Panic shot through her before she could stop it, but Alice simply gave her a knowing smirk, refilled her cup, and gave it back, “There’s no need to worry, you’re safe here, for whatever brief time we can manage.”

“I don’t…” the panic Amelia felt quickly turned into confusion. “Who are you? Where am I?”

“My name is Alice, Alice Kirkland,” she answered, an amused glint in her eye. Amelia decided that she liked that look, “and you, Amelia Jones, managed to find one of the most well hidden Mage Temples in the world...out of dumb luck.”

“Well, it wasn’t that well hidden then, was it?” Amelia joked back before she could even think better of it.

The amusement in Alice’s eyes quickly turned to annoyance.

“This Temple’s location is a complete secret and yet you managed to find it in less than a day. So, it’s safe to say that something guided you here.”

“My horse got me here.”

“My point still stands,” the mage said. “Either way, you are an unbelievably lucky person. Escaping the palace and the soldiers, finding this place, showing up just in time for someone to save you. Someone was watching out for you.”

A flair of red magic flashed in Amelia’s memory. Maybe Maddie had managed to perfect that luck spell after all. The thought made her smile. She just hoped her sister was okay.

“I just hope all that luck wasn’t wasted.”

“It wasn’t,” she said, sounding more assured than Amelia felt. “Your uncle has corrupted the order of things. He wasn’t chosen to rule and Spades won’t flourish underneath his rule. You, however, were chosen. Saving your life is saving the only chance Spades has until the next King is born, and there’s no telling how long that will be.”

Amelia couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. She certainly didn’t feel like she’d been divinely chosen. She felt like a man she’d trusted her entire life murdered her parents in their sleep and driven her out of her home.

“Your sister knew what she was doing,” Alice finally said. The tone of her voice was firm, but calm, and soft, like she knew she was treading on thin ice. “Don’t waste her sacrifice by throwing away the chance she’s given you.”

When Amelia didn’t respond, Alice changed the subject. “You need rest. This temple is hard to find, but not impossible. If they look hard enough, they will find it and you need to be ready when they do.”

Amelia didn’t know Alice, but she knew that she was right. She couldn’t stand by and allow her uncle to get away with what he had done, with everything he’d taken from her.

Alice came closer to her once again and Amelia watched as she cast another healing spell. From the air, the sparking blue tendrils returned and licked at her skin, turning purple where they touched. As the cool magic ran through her, Amelia glanced at Alice, who’s magic had wrapped around her fingers in delicate looking threads as she moved them in complex, tiny movements while her eyes lit up with tiny sparks of blue.

The cool, numbing sensation that ran through her veins slowly morphed into a warm lull. Amelia could feel herself being dragged closer and closer back into sleep. Before she could protest the change, Amelia was pulled back into unconsciousness and the last thing she felt were Alice’s cool fingertips running through her hair.

**Author's Note:**

> This was for Day 3 of USUK Week and I chose the fantasy prompt!
> 
> Find me on [Tumblr](https://silverphoenixwrites.tumblr.com/), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/sil_phoenix), and [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/silverphoenix)!


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